HEART OF BERLIN

Next day we decided to explore the Mitte area, the most historical area in Berlin: from our hotel, we crossed Oranienburgerstrasse, where You can find some interesting buildings, such as the “Postfuhramt” – it was an ancient stable with two hundred horses employed to delivery mail – and the “Neue Synagoge”, the largest synagogue in the world, completed in 1866, but sadly set on fire during Kristallnacht in 1938, and after also damaged in 1943 by air raids. It was reconstructed starting from 1987.

We continued to the Sprea island (Museumsinsel), where are located many international museum of the city. The history of Museum Island started with King Frederick William III who, in 1810, commissioned the creation of a public museum on Spree Island.  In 1822 Karl Friedrich Schinkel drew up plans to develop the island, and a first museum building, the Royal Museum – nowadays the Altes Museum – opened in 1830. The museum was built to allow the general public to view the royal art treasures of Prussia. The other museum were established during XIX century. Sadly, most of these buildings were destroyed during World War II and, after the conflict, the collections were split up between East and West Berlin. After German reunification the collections were brought together again and a masterplan was drawn up, to not only restore all five museums but also expand and modernize the museum complex.

We took the chance to visit the Pergamon Museum, where you’ll find a remarkable collection of Greek, Roman and Babylonian antiquities. Highlights include impressive monuments such as the Ishtar Gate of Babylon, the Market gate of Miletus and the enormous Pergamon Altar. It’s really impressive to see such kind of artifacts included in closed rooms, with for example, Ishtar Gate that nearly reach the ceiling.

After the visit, we took a stroll around the Museum complex: crossing the colonnade, You’ll reach the Dom, Berlin’s main cathedral, that was built at the end of the XVIII century as a protestant counterpart of the St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. The cathedral is lavishly decorated in the Baroque style.

The basement of the cathedral holds the Hohenzollern family crypt. It contains more than ninety sarcophagi, including that of Frederick William, the Great Elector.
If You don’t have fear of heights, you can climb to the dome and enjoy a great view on the rooftops of the city.

The garden in front of the Dom is called “Lustgarten”. The garden was originally created as an exotic garden for Princess Luise, spouse of the Great Elector. King Frederick William I, the so-called ‘Soldier-King’, turned the garden into a military parade ground. Here you find Altes Museum, reopened in 1966 as a museum of contemporary art, it houses nowadays ancient Greek and Roman antiquities. The building resembles infact a Greek Ionic Temple.

to be continued..Cris

 

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SALONE DEL MOBILE 2017

Hello! This post remained “frozen” for a while, because of my recent work commitments, so this year I’m in huge delay about the last trends about interior design. But I took some interesting pictures, to catch the atmosphere I breathed.

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Let me reassume simply what’ll be trendy next season:

– First of all, we’re back in the 70’s: geometric shapes, flashy colours, fancy wallpapers, round armchairs: if you’re a nostalgic, this is the perfect time for you.
– Make way for rich fabrics and materials: velvet and taffeta are the protagonist of the home, giving a cozy, warm touch, together with the classic marble – or cultured marble for the table surfaces. –
– Let’s have fun combining particular colours: dark moss green with yellow, powder blue with orange, and so on.
– Greenery is good!: wallpaper and pouffs with palms, but also great profusion of plants and vases everywhere, and also cupboards with leaves and blossoms motifs.

POSTCARDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: BERLIN

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“Per visitare Berlino bisogna saper vedere anche quello che non c’è più e saper intuire una ingannevole realtà. Qui gli eventi sono cicatrici sul volto della storia, ma la loro capacità evocativa è intatta. A Berlino nulla resta più visibile di ciò che si cerca di cancellare.”

“To visit Berlin must be able to see what is not here anymore, and be able to grasp a deceptive reality. Here events are scars on the face of history, but their evoking ability is unaltered. In Berlin nothing remains more visible than what you are trying to delete.”

(Johann Bernhard Merian)

SUMMER MELANCHOLIA

Hello! How are you? I never thought I would be absent from the blog for all August, but between work and finally the summer holidays, time just flew.
In these days I’m just trying to recollect emotions, images, faces, scents of the places we visit in the last two weeks in Thailand.
I’m trying to put into words all the sensations, the emotions that this trip has given to me, and I’m realizing that it’s a difficult task.
Because Asia has a special charm. It bewitches and enchants you, with its own strenghts and its flaws. Asia has so much to teach every time you meet it: always new knowledges, new flavours to absorb. Asia is the land for discoverers “par excellence”, the country where to get lost and then find yourself.

Even now, with enchanted eyes, I’ll tell you about “my” amazing Thailand, so stay tuned and get ready to leave with me! Cris

POSTCARDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: ROME

I love Rome. I really never heard someone bringing back a negative memory about this beautiful city.

I’m always astonished by the magnificence of its monuments. So many centuries of history enclosed into few kilometres walk.

I’m always overwhelmed by the warmth of the people. Romans are open, cheerful, even a bit “caciaroni” (that means noisy), yes, and i love it.

Rome is romanticisme: walk on sunset following the Tevere River, take dinner in one of the tiny restaurants in Trastevere: is just the perfect way to end the day.

I love Rome from above: go up to the panoramic viewpoints on the Roman hills and enjoy beautiful views.

Rome is perfect just in the way “she” is, with its chaos, its imperfections, its contradictions.

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 ”How is it possible to say an unkind or irreverential word of Rome? The city of all time, and of all the world!”
  Nathaniel Hawthorne (American novelist, 1804-1864)

POSTCARDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: SWITZERLAND

Hello!Happy New Year!We’re just back from some days spent in the Bernese canton and I’m recollecting things to show you in the next posts. In the meanwhile, I made a gallery with some of my fave photos. Have you ever been in Switzerland? It would be nice to know also your first impressions about this country. Stay tuned for the update of the tale of our itinerary! Cris

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POSTCARDS FROM EXPO MILANO 2015

“Because all together we are a beautiful world”

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POSTCARDS FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD: LOS ANGELES

LA is a city that you can love and hate at the same time. It’s too big, too messy, too chaotic. But it makes you dream, because after all, Los Angeles means Hollywood, the myth, the chance of a life. It means sun, palm trees and neverending golden beaches, from glamorous Malibu to multiethnic Venice Beach.

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